Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Live Native Essential Gold Rejuvenating Eye Balm

Live Native is a handmade, mostly organic skincare range. The brand is based on the Isle of Skye and none of the ingredients are heated/pasteurised (so as to retain all the nutritional value).
The formula of the eye balm (£45) feels very concentrated so you only need a little bit. It contains 23k gold leaf, cold-pressed comfrey oil (to help reduce puffiness and dark circles) and also ingredients such as rosehip and carrot root oils (to provide regenerative anti-oxidant properties).
I found the product quite strong in terms of smell, its meant to be rose, vanilla oils and raw cacao butter, but it reminded me of an orange chocolate lip balm I used to have (I must have a strange sense of smell).
Everything was pointing to this being a winner, the ingredients look good and the reviews across the board were impressive.
I held off reviewing this until I used it all up as I was hoping I would change my mind.....
Though its write up says its light and none greasy, for me it never completely absorbed, and left a greasy slick feel, which did not make a good base with concealer.
Its meant to help "reduce puffiness and dark circles, and promote the natural production of collagen that reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles".
I have tried so many eye products over the years that I do not have high expectations, however I must concede I did feel slightly disappointed that having used this day and night without fail, I notice no improvement and felt like my eye area was left feeling and looking much dryer than before.
Ingredients:
However, though this product didn't work for me, I do think the brand offers a good range of products for those wishing to move towards more "raw" skin and body care.

14 comments:

Oh, what a shame it wasn't a hit. I find it hard to find eye products that I get on with and anything with a 'heavy' feel tends to lead to puffiness. I have my eye on trying their balm cleanser next, I can't remember if that's something you've tried before? xx

Hi Jane,I've not tried it but have the cleanser on my list :) It is so hard to find a good eye cream isn't it. I recently bought the Omorovicza one so hope that does something magical as it was rather spendy! ;) xx

Excellent review. Definitely too bad that it was a miss for you. Did it give you any milia (as you well know- that is always one of my greatest concerns). It definitely sounds as though it was too heavy and the scent seems too strong. It is so difficult to find excellent eye creams! xx

Hi Lola,Thank you :) It didn't give me any extra Milia luckily, though I always seem to have a bit of it that just seems to be there whatever I use. Good eye creams are very hard to come by I think, I wonder if I have gone past the age where they would be able to make any significant change really xx

Well, at least it didn't give you any extra milia. I agree that a good eye cream is very hard to come by, indeed. I think the trick,at least for me, is something that is moisturizing enough-- but without any of the clogging ingredients that give me milia. I have found that thinner, rather than thicker, formulas tend to work the best. Have you looked into the brand new anti-aging eye cream from REN? I sampled it at Sephora and thought that it felt lovely, and not too thick. It might be worth sampling. xx

I haven't tried it on my eyes, only on my hand-- which is hardly the same, but the texture was lovely. I don't know if they have samples floating around, but it might be worth trying that way first! :) xoxox

My pleasure, Replica! Once I make it through a few of my eye creams I would definitely like to try this as well. I tried a sample of the Radiant Eye Gel before, and I thought that it was lovely, but I would prefer something with some anti-aging benefits for daily and nightly use. I can't wait to hear what you think about this! :)

It's a shame this gorgeous balm didn't work for you, I absolutely adore this. If you still have some left it makes an excellent (but expensive) lip balm! I recommend that you try Live native's Essential Beauty Serum which is a gentle but powerful anti ageing oil, as this can be be used around the eyes.

If you're looking for something lighter around the eyes I recommend you try Luzern Labs Serum Absolut Vanish which helps get rid of dark circles and puffiness - http://www.naturisimo.com/products.cfm?id=1236&nme=Luzern%20 or Luzern Labs Force De Vie Eye Contour Creme - http://www.naturisimo.com/products.cfm?id=929&nme=luz

Thank you Danny :) I will look into the Beauty Serum, thanks for the rec.The Luzern sounds very interesting, I had not noticed that line on Naturisimo before so will have a good look at the range, thanks for your advise as always :) x

Great review!I tried a sample (using it for about 10 days) and I agree it can have a quite heavy textureHowever, this was a plus for me, as my skin is very dry around the eye area and, by using this balm, it felt restored.I can not say anything about the dark circles, as I have used it only for a small time....

Thank you Clara :) My eye area is really dry as well so I was surprised that this didn't work for me, I wonder if for some reason it was just sitting on top of my skin and thats why I didn't get any benefits as i know this is a popular choice for some.